Combat scroll
Combat scrolls are a type of consumable clicky item created by the research tradeskill. When activated, a combat scroll strikes the character's current target with a minor direct damage spell of one of the five basic resistance types. Each scroll can be used only once, but the scrolls can be carried in stacks of 100, which eases their burden on inventory space. Detailed Mechanics The effects of combat scrolls resemble those of the direct damage suspensions crafted with alchemy, but with the important difference that combat scrolls are clickies with a 2.5 second cast time, while suspensions are throwing weapons with a guaranteed proc on each throw and 40 delay. All classes can activate combat scrolls, although classes without the channeling skill or an AA that gives a similar effect will find it difficult to activate combat scrolls while being attacked in melee. The effects produced by combat scrolls always deal direct spell damage and have no mana cost. Currently, increasing one's critical blast chance and critical blast severity is the only way to improve DPS from a combat scroll. The damage of the scroll itself is generally minor, with even the higher level implementations dealing meager (for their level range) damage of only around 300. Combat scrolls have a range of 100, about half of the base range of most damaging spells. They have a modest resistance adjustment of -30. Their apparent casting level depends on the rank of the scroll being clicked, not on the user's level, which means that high level characters facing high level enemies will need correspondingly high level scrolls in order to keep the effects from being easily resisted. Like all clickies, combat scrolls can be activated during the global cooldown between spells. Their activation time is one second longer than the typical global cooldown of 1.5 seconds, meaning that some potential spellcasting time will still be consumed by doing this unless the character just cast a spell with an exceptionally long global cooldown effect. All combat scrolls can be assigned to the potion belt. Usage Strategy For casters, priests, and hybrids, the low base damage on combat scrolls makes them decisively inferior to casting one's own damaging spells when one is able to do so (not out of mana and not currently waiting for a global cooldown to end). Still, since combat scrolls can be clicked during the global cooldown between spells, they have a potential niche in the way one chains one's damaging spells together. However, since the cast time on a combat scroll is 2.5 seconds (a full second longer than the 1.5 second global cooldown associated with most spells) they are generally inferior to just throwing a suspension between casts and then waiting for one's gems to unlock, when it comes to optimizing DPS on a burn. That said, clicking a scroll in between spellcasts can still help a caster not run out of mana as fast while continuing to add a minor amount of sustained DPS - although the range restriction of 100 can make this undesirable unless one is already fighting in close quarters anyway. Making a social hotkey to throw a suspension and then immediately activate a combat scroll allows one to weave together a small salvo of minor spells for use in between one's normal magic, although this can quickly turn into a rather expensive way to fight. Likewise, in cases in which a character's spell gems are locked out by the global cooldown for longer than usual (e.g., after a paladin or cleric throws a fast heal and gets his or her gems locked out for several seconds), these scrolls can be activated without wasting possible spellcasting time. Naming Pattern All combat scrolls currently have names that follow this formula: "(Rank Adjective) Scroll of (Element)." The adjective determines the required level and apparent casting level of the clicky, while the element word indicates the scroll's resistance type. Rank Adjective Confusingly, many of these adjectives overlap with the naming scheme of defiant armor, but do not always have any relationship to its level requirements or recommendations. *Primitive - no requirement - casts as if level 5 *Rudimentary - req 5 - casts as if level 10 *Crude - req 10 - casts as if level 15 *Makeshift - req 15 - casts as if level 20 *Elementary - req 20 - casts as if level 25 *Modest - req 25 - casts as if level 30 *Simple - req 35 - casts as if level 40 *(no adjective) - req 45 - casts as if level 50 *Refined - req 55 - casts as if level 60 *Intricate - req 65 - casts as if level 70 *Elaborate - req 70 - casts as if level 75 *Ornate - req 75 - casts as if level 80 *Runed - req 80 - casts as if level 85 Element *Static Strike - magic *Fire Strike - fire *Frost Strike - cold *Poisoning - poison *Pestilence - disease